


Dead Hearts [Heroes of Olympus Horror AU]

by LeoValdezIsHot



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Dark, Blood and Gore, Brutal Murder, Brutality, Depressed Nico di Angelo, Depression, Everyone Has Issues, Everyone Needs A Hug, F/F, F/M, Gen, Heavy Angst, Horror, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Insanity, M/M, Mental Breakdown, Mental Health Issues, Mental Instability, Murder, Nico di Angelo is the only sane one, No Smut, Post-The Blood of Olympus (Heroes of Olympus), Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Saving the World, Survival Horror, This Is Not Going To Go The Way You Think, english is not my first language
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-25
Updated: 2021-01-23
Packaged: 2021-03-10 20:28:07
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,364
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28323111
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LeoValdezIsHot/pseuds/LeoValdezIsHot
Summary: Gaea is defeated.Everything's alright, isn't it?Suddenly, the Seven's powers seem to get way stronger than normal and they lose control of them.Every time Jason gets angry, lightning bolts strike down everything in his way and he barely gets exhausted, when he touches people he shocks them with strong electricity.Leo produces giant flames whenever he experiences a strong emotion and his hands are constantly as hot as fire.Percy drowns people he doesn't like even when there's no water near, and when he wounds his enemies he manipulates their blood to flow out faster and faster.Frank transforms into carnivorous animals randomly and loses his rational thinking – he mauls everything near him.Hazel leaves jewels behind with every step and they kill everyone immediately who touches them.Piper is plagued by brutal visions of her friends killing and dying, and they will do exactly what they do in those visions, even when she doesn't charmspeak them to do so.Annabeth has voices talking to her in her head, feeding her with knowledge constantly without a break.The Heroes of Olympus become the Death of Olympus, and Nico, Reyna, Thalia and Calypso need to stop them.
Relationships: Annabeth Chase/Percy Jackson, Calypso & Nico di Angelo, Calypso/Piper McLean, Hazel Levesque/Frank Zhang, Jason Grace & Percy Jackson, Jason Grace/Leo Valdez, Nico di Angelo & Reyna Avila Ramírez-Arellano, Nico di Angelo/Will Solace, Thalia Grace & Reyna Avila Ramírez-Arellano
Comments: 20
Kudos: 33





	1. Fire and Lightning

Jason rested his head against the tree.  
Three months had passed since they'd beaten Gaea, and nothing bad had happened since.  
Still, many things had been destroyed and they'd spent most of their time rebuilding them.  
But now they were finally done, they could relax now.  
Jason smiled as he looked at Leo who was sitting next to him in the grass.  
He'd died in the battle and the blonde was still mad at his boyfriend for shocking him and all his other friends.  
Festus had saved his life in time with the Physician's Cure and so he'd safely returned to Camp Half - Blood, accompanied by Calypso, the girl he'd saved from Ogygia, her prison.  
He just couldn't bear to leave her there forever, even though he didn't love her.  
Leo had promised to get her back, and he'd kept that promise.  
Calypso was still nervous, felt like she didn't belong in Camp Half - Blood since she wasn't the child of a god or goddess, but they had let her stay for now.  
But luckily she'd found a good friend in Piper, who was always showing her around and explaining things to her she didn't quite understand, even though the daughter of Aphrodite seemed to be a lot more stressed lately.  
All of the Seven were a little nervous, but that's only normal after the war.  
A bird was flying from left to right, passing Jason.  
It had jet – black feathers and dark, beady eyes.  
Jasonʼs eyes followed the raven until it had disappeared in the trees.  
Jason, Frank and Hazel had to return to Camp Jupiter soon, they were needed there more than in Camp Half - Blood now, especially Frank and Hazel as the new praetors.  
But Jason didn't want to leave the Greek friends he'd found – and his boyfriend – behind.  
Maybe he didn't have to go, he wasn't the praetor anymore after all.  
He was probably being selfish, but he didn't care.  
Jason only wanted to spend some time with Leo, they rarely had that opportunity before.  
Suddenly, a burned smell caught Jason's attention.  
He looked down and saw that the grass around Leo was scorched, but the son of Hephaestus didn't seem to notice.  
“Leo,” Jason hissed “you're burning the grass!”  
Quickly, like a child caught with their hands in a cookie bowl, Leo jumped to his feet and stared at the black patch on the ground where his hands had been a few seconds before.  
No stem was left, everything was burned down.  
Leo's eyes widened as he looked at his hands, sparks were emerging from his fingertips.  
“I – I didn't do anything,” looking up at Jason helplessly.  
Jason narrowed his eyes.  
That had never happened before.  
Even when he had been inexperienced, Leo had never accidentally set something on fire.  
And he was also still very weak from creating a supernova and literally dying.  
He shouldn't even be able to create fire for quite a few months, until he'd fully recovered.  
Quick as a snake, Jason grabbed Leo's left hand to have a look at it, but a few seconds he jumped in the air, hissing, and took a few steps back.  
Leo had burned him, his entire hand was as black as the patch of grass beneath him.  
Leo had also stumbled backwards, holding his still twitching hand.  
“You –you shocked me,” he called out, aghast, his voice quivering.  
His mouth opened in shock, Jason shook his head.  
“No, I – I didn't want this. I don't know what's going on.”  
Leo blinked.  
“We're losing control of our powers, Leo. But how can that be?”  
Jason took a step forward but Leo immediately retreated, his eyes wide open in fear.  
“Don't touch me. You hurt me!”  
“You hurt me too!,” Jason retorted, slowly getting angry.  
“And I didn't even mean to. I don't know what the fuck is going on!”  
Jason heard thunder growling somewhere above him and lightning flickered across the sky.  
Leo looked up at the sky now, shivering.  
“That's you. What are you doing!,” Leo was almost screaming now and suddenly fireballs shot out of his hands, burning the grass and missing Jason by an inch.  
“What – what is going on with us?!”  
“I don't know!,” Leo gasped, turning around and sprinting back towards the campfire.  
“Leave me alone now, will you?!”  
Jason looked after him, his hands still prickling from the shock he'd given Leo.  
He'd shocked his boyfriend with an unusually large amount of electricity, had created lightning and thunder without meaning to, and Leo had burning, hot hands with which he'd scorched the ground and created fireballs.  
Both weren't exhausted even the tiniest bit.  
What was going on?


	2. A Wolf's Claws

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you want to listen to some music that's fitting this story, I listened to a lot of Jack Stauber songs while writing it, especially New Normal and It's Alright.  
> They actually gave me the idea for the story.  
> Also Nowhere To Run by Stegosaurus rex, Go Tell Aunt Rhodie from Resident Evil 7 and a lot of songs I've probably forgotten right. ^^  
> Oh and Panic Room and My Name is Carnival, definitely!

When Jason arrived at the camp fire, all of his friends were still there except for Leo, but he knew going after his boyfriend would be no use right now.  
He'd just lock himself in the Hephaestus cabin and not come out until the next day.  
Jason felt bad for yelling at him, Leo had only been scared because of the sudden electric shock he'd received from him.  
Tomorrow he'd definitely seek out Leo and apologize for losing his cool.  
He was still weirded out by the things that had happened a few moments prior.  
Of course they'd accidentally used their powers before, but never that strongly.  
Jason hoped it was simply because they were still very stressed, having slept only a few hours per day because of nightmares and the work they had to do.  
They lost their nerves a lot of times and maybe that had disrupted their powers a bit.  
Hopefully it was that.  
Jason didn't want to imagine what would happen if they completely lost control of them.  
Sighing, he sat down next to Percy.  
For the first time he noticed that his friend had a tired, haunted look in his green eyes.  
The son of Poseidon flinched and Jason furrowed his brow.  
All of the others seemed pretty jumpy and nervous too, but it was probably just because of the lack of sleep.  
It was only normal that they were all a bit messed up after the big fight against Gaea, right?  
“Hey, Jason,” Percy greeted him, stretching and grabbing one of the roasted marshmallows lying next to him.  
“Hi.”  
Jason eyed the marshmallows hungrily, suddenly realizing how loud his stomach was roaring.  
“Want one?,” a slight smile crept on Percy's lips “Take it, I have enough.”  
Grateful, Jason grabbed one of them and stuffed it in his mouth, gulping it down feverishly.  
“Leo just ran across the camp like a monster was behind him, did something happen?,” Hazel called to him, a concerned look in her eyes.  
Frank's head was laying on her lap, his eyes closed, his chest rising and falling.  
He was growling softly as if he was still a ferocious animal.  
“He's… he's okay. We're just a bit stressed, that's all,” Jason answered hesitantly.  
He didn't the others to worry about him, they'd instantly run to Chiron if Jason told him that they'd lost complete control of their powers for a moment.  
“We all are,” Piper sighed, leaning on Calypso.  
Her eyes were a light blue right now, but they were as tired as Percy's.  
Percy's gaze fell on Jason's blackened hand and he narrowed his eyes.  
Quickly, Jason stuffed it back into his pocket.  
“Maybe we should go to sleep now. It's been a long day,” Annabeth said, standing up.  
“Yeah, that's a good idea,” Reyna answered.  
Her eyes were still bright and shining, there was none of the dullness the Seven's had, even though she worked twice as hard as they did.  
Jason stood up, shuffling towards his cabin.  
Normally he'd ask Leo to sleep by his side, but that wasn't possible that night.  
Tomorrow, everything would look better.

Even though he'd slept for almost eight hours, Jason was still feeling exhausted.  
After he'd accidentally used his powers yesterday he'd felt energetic and strong, and now when he wasn't using them he was feeling the exact opposite.  
Weird.  
Normally it was the other way around.  
Jason stepped out into the open, the sun shining in his face and he sighed happily.  
He loved sunshine and warmth, and he was used to having enough of it when he cuddled up to his boyfriend who was basically a portable heater.  
Leo was sitting outside of the Hephaestus cabin, legs crossed and working on something, making sure to keep his hands off the ground.  
He seemed to heat up the metal that was lying in front of him, and his eyes were unusually bright.  
The Latino looked up as Jason approached.  
“I'm sorry,” he blurted out immediately as Jupiter's son sat down next to him.  
“I know you didn't hurt me on purpose, and I hurt you too so –”  
“Hey, it's okay. We're all a bit stressed, I guess,” Jason silenced him, resting his head on Leo's shoulder which was pretty uncomfortable thanks to their height difference.  
Leo flinched immediately and Jason's eyes widened as he realized that he must have shocked him again.  
Suddenly energy flowed back into his body, as if using his electric powers had somehow recharged him.  
It had never been like that, what was going on?  
His boyfriend was crawling away from him, leaving burned patches of grass behind where his hands touched the ground.  
“Maybe…maybe we should wait until we've fully recovered,” Leo whispered, looking at the burned grass, his eyes were even brighter than before now.  
“Yeah. I guess we should.”

The thought that they'd lost control of their powers again and it had somehow strengthened them instead of weakened didn't want to leave Jason's mind, so he decided to help Percy and Annabeth build one of the camp walls Chiron had ordered them to make.  
Percy was busily collecting rocks while Annabeth piled them up.  
“I can't find any more,” Percy panted, setting down a rock next to Jason.  
Annabeth's gray eyes suddenly went blank and she was blinking rapidly.  
“There are some behind the Demeter cabin.”  
Jason raised one eyebrow.  
Annabeth had no reason to visit the Demeter cabin, how would she be able to know that.  
“How do you know that?,” he asked.  
Annabeth looked at him, her eyes wide and confused.  
“I… I don't know.”  
“Perhaps you saw it someday and remembered it right now?,” Percy mused wrapping one arm around his girlfriend.  
“Yeah. It… It must be that.”  
She whipped her head around and looked at Jason.  
“Jason, Reyna wants to talk with you, Frank and Hazel about the situation at Camp Jupiter.  
She's waiting at the Great House.”  
Jason stared at her.  
“Umm…Okay?”  
Annabeth rubbed her eyes, groaning.  
“Urghh, I have such a headache…”  
“I can finish that, if you want,” Jason offered, catching Percy's concerned look.  
Annabeth shook her head quickly and bent over to lift the rock, but instantly pulled her hand back.  
“Ouch!,” she'd cut her finger at a sharp edge and now blood was dripping onto the ground.  
Percy's eyes fixed the cut and Annabeth gasped loudly as more blood flowed out, faster and faster.  
Percy forcefully tore his gaze away from the cut and the stream of blood stopped.  
He locked eyes with Jason, and confusion was clouding their eyes.

“Help!,” Piperʼs heartwrenching cry filled Jason's eyes, he forgot about the weird situation between Annabeth and Percy and ran across the camp toward Piper who was sitting on the ground, eyes wide open and bright.  
Jason sat down next to her, she was trembling.  
“Hey, what's wrong?,” he asked urgently.  
He resisted the urge to rest his hand on her shoulder, he knew that he'd only give her an electric shock.  
“Frank turned into a wolf and is attacking Hazel,” she gasped, looking at Jason with terrified eyes.  
“I made him do that!”  
Jason's thoughts were racing.  
No.  
That couldn't be.  
Frank was the nicest, gentlest dude he knew.  
And Hazel was his girlfriend, the person he loved more than anything else on this planet.  
Piper tried to bury her face in Jason's chest but he quickly jumped to his feet, running as far away from her as possible.  
“No! Don't touch me! I don't want to hurt you!,” terror pulsed through his body and he was feeling slightly nauseous.  
Piper stared after him, her eyes rapidly changing colour as if she was losing complete control of her appearance changing powers.  
Like Jason and Leo did with their powers.  
A low moan sounded from the strawberry fields and Hazel appeared, her shirt slashed and blood painting her chest and throat red.  
She was leaving shining jewels behind with every step.  
The little girl was stumbling towards Jason, her arm stretched out in a silent cry for help.  
He caught her before she collapsed on the ground, slowly lying her down in the grass that was quickly becoming scarlet red.  
“No, no!”  
She was spasming in his grip as Jason accidentally gave her multiple shocks and he let go off her, horrified.  
She was unconscious now and Jason didn't know if it was because of her wounds or because of his shocks.  
“Don't die Hazel, please! Everything's going to be alright, I promise.”  
Piper had crept to his side, looking down at the terribly injured girl.  
“Frank's still at the strawberry fields,” she whispered, her gaze was clearing now.  
Jason couldn't believe that Frank had attacked Hazel.  
Piper must have been mistaken.  
Hazel had been attacked by a monster.  
Dozens of eerily glowing jewels were appearing next to Hazel's body, her heartbeat slowing down.  
Crap, why hadn't anyone followed him when Piper had called for help?  
And how did Piper even know that Hazel had been injured?  
“Why are you just sitting there?,” Jason snapped, thunder growling and lightning flashing across the sky.  
He knew he was losing control of his powers again and moved away from Hazel and Piper since he feared he could shock them now without even touching them.  
“Get help Piper! Quickly!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The curses of the Seven have arrived.  
> The first chapter was more of a prologue, now the story is truly starting.  
> I think I don't spoiler a lot when I say that their powers haven't reached their full force yet, far from it and they will be driven more and more crazy because of them.  
> So I want to ask you a little question: Who, do you think, is going to have the highest kill count by the end of the story?  
> I know that we haven't seen much of their powers yet, but still.  
> I already know who it'll be. ^^  
> The POV's will also change soon.


	3. Red Stars

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello.  
> Sorry it took so long for me to post another chapter, but I had a lot of stuff to do and couldn't find the time to work on it.  
> New chapters will take a long time in general now since I have online classes – a lot.  
> I hope you don't mind that.  
> Maybe you noticed that I renamed the story.  
> I thought “The Cursed Seven” was too boring for a title, and I believe the song “Dead Hearts” by Stars fits the story quite well, especially later on.  
> I hope you enjoy it.  
> Like I already said I think, I haven't read HoO in a while, so there might be some mistakes.

Nico blinked his eyes open, still tired from resting next to Will in the shadows of a large pine as a low, pitiful moan sounded across the camp.

It had sounded like…No, that couldn't be. 

He stumbled to his feet and nudged Will, who groaned sleepily and tried to turn away from his boyfriend.

“Will!,” Nico hissed “wake up, something's happening!”

The moan sounded again, louder again, and it was gripping Nicoʼs heart like icy claws. 

Biting his lip, Nico let his gaze wander over the camp, but he saw no one. 

The camp seemed to be completely deserted and an eery silence lay over it, since the moans had stopped. 

Hissing, Nico shook Will until he finally opened his eyes and stared at him, confused and unfocused. 

“Someone's hurt, Will,” he whispered “we need to help them.”

The son of Apollo immediately jumped to his feet, his tiredness seemingly blasted away. 

“Who?,” he asked. 

Nico shook his head, biting his lip. 

The sounds had reminded him of someone, but he didn't even want to think about the possibility that it could be her. 

He'd already lost one sister. 

“I don't know. But it's coming from the strawberry fields.”

Will stared at him. 

“I'm not imagining this,” Nico hissed, stiffening. 

“I know you're not,” Will responded simply, “I'll get ambrosia and nectar, and if I manage to find anyone quickly enough, I'll alarm them too. You go towards the noise.”

Nico sighed and buried his face in Willʼs chest for a second, but retreated quickly. 

“I hope everythingʼs going to be alright.” 

Nico was running across the camp, his heart beating against his rib cage so quickly and forcefully that it almost made him sick. 

Everything was quiet now – too quiet. 

He didn't even spot Percy and Annabeth, who had wanted to build a stone wall. 

Since he didn't really know where the sound had come from he simply followed his gut feeling. It led him to the southeast part of the camp. 

Nicoʼs breath caught in his throat as he met the sight of Jason Grace sitting in front of a small, unmoving body. 

Jasonʼs shirt was covered in thick, scarlet blood and it was still dripping from Hazelʼs body too. 

His sister was lying in a bed of eerily glowing, green jewels and Nico subconsciously knew that he shouldn't touch them. 

Nico crouched down next to Jason, stretching out a shivering hand to touch Hazelʼs arm.

The faint raising and falling of her chest told her that she was still alive, but her eyes were closed. 

“What happened?,” Nico asked, slightly touching Jason, but he retreated quickly when he received a sharp electric shock from Jason. 

The son of Jupiter stared at him, his blue eyes wide in fear and frustration. 

Nico blinked. 

Jason usually had pretty good control over his powers, but in a situation like that it was to be expected that he accidentally shocked someone. 

The air seemed to be electrically charged, and Nico received little shocks constantly. 

Thunder growled behind them. 

“I… I don't really know,” Jason confessed, his voice sounding broken. 

“Piper was here and said she had some vision of Fr – of something attacking Hazel, and then appeared,” his voice cracked and he swallowed hard. “Piper already went to fetch help but… I don't know if we can save anymore,” his voice grew quieter toward the end, so quiet that Nico almost couldn't understand him anymore. 

“It's not,” the son of Hades answered immediately, shaking his head. He had the ability to sense dying people, and Hazel was still alive. “We can still save her, we need to!” Nico said, his voice rising. 

“Why haven't you brought her to the Big House yet? How long has she been lying here! Don't just stare at me like that! What is wrong with you, Jason?”

Jason stared at him with blank, empty eyes and Nico realized that he probably hadn't understood a word of what he'd just said. 

He was reminded of Bianca, his sister who'd died such a long time ago. 

Her death had completely broken him and he'd only recently started to recover with the help of his new and first friends, his boyfriend Will and Hazel, his other sister, whom he'd saved from the underworld. He hoped desperately that he wouldn’t have to go back to get her again.

“Willʼs already getting ambrosia and nectar, we need to bring her to the Great House immediately,” Nico commanded, his voice sharp with urgency. “Carry her, you're stronger than I am.”

To his horror, Jason shook his head and retreated a few steps.

“No. You take her. I can't touch her.” He sounded so frightened and legitimately scared of himself that Nico didn't argue, he didn't have the nerve to anyway. 

Gently, he picked up his sister, emerald green jewels rattling on the ground while he was doing so. 

She was so light that he could hold her easily, her curly brown hair tickling his cheek and her blood staining his shirt. 

“Don't worry, I won't let you die.”

Almost the entire camp had been gathered around the Big House when Nico, Jason and Hazel arrived, fear and confusion in all their gazes. 

Nico ignored them, he just quickened his steps. 

Chiron, Will and Piper greeted him there as he gently lowered Hazel on the ground, there wasn't time to get her to a bed. 

Will had already prepared the nectar and ambrosia and was rushing toward Hazel to feed her. 

After a few spoons, Will rested his hand on the gash on her neck. It had stopped bleeding and Hazelʼs chest seemed to rise and fall more evenly. 

Will looked up and there was a sudden flash of hope in his eyes. 

Nico stared at his boyfriend for a moment and then nodded slowly. 

“She'll survive. But only a few minutes later and she would have been dead.”

Nico let out a sigh of relief and surprised everyone in the room, including himself, when he hugged Will tightly in front of Chiron, Piper and Jason. 

He wasn't a touchy person, he really wasn't, but he was relieved that his sister had survived and gratitude toward Will was too much for him to ignore. 

“Thank you, Will. You saved her.”

“Of course I did,” Will answered quietly and pressed a kiss on his cheek. 

Nico blushed immediately and retreated quickly. 

“Stop that.”

Will smiled a bit, but his smile faded when he looked down at Hazel again. 

Chiron, sitting in his wheelchair right now, was watching Hazel intently, frowning. “Do you know what happened?,” he asked, turning to Piper and Jason now. 

“That wound wasn't made by a weapon, the edges are way too jagged and pointed for that, and it's too deep. Only a very strong animal could have inflicted a wound like that,” the centaur said, his voice sounding very serious. 

Piper opened her mouth to answer, but Jason shot her a scorching look and she closed it immediately again. 

Nico raised one eyebrow. 

Piper had never let anyone tell her what to do, especially not Jason. 

She was looking quite bad in general, tired with a pale face and blank eyes.

Jason was looking tired and stressed too, his skin and hair paler than usual, but his eyes were way darker.

Nico remembered that all of the Seven had looked quite bad lately, and he wondered if they were sick. 

Chiron was staring at the two demigods as if he knew they were keeping something secret, but he didn't say anything and simply nodded. 

“You may go. Tell the others that Hazelʼs alive. Will, you'll stay here for now.”

The son of Apollo nodded and shot Nico a look that seemed to say ‘I'll keep her alive’. 

Nico sighed, stroking his sisterʼs hair one last time before he left the house after Jason and Piper. 

He noticed Piper leaning toward Jason and whispering something into his ear, but Nico was only a few inches away from them so he understood everything they said. 

“Frankʼs still gone,” she hissed urgently. 

Jason shook his head, his eyes blazing troubled. 

“He has nothing to do with this, you must have been mistaken,” he retorted. 

“Jason Grace, you listen to me! Somethingʼs terribly wrong, you know it! You feel it.”

Jason lifted his arm, the Roman tattoo clearly visible now, and cut her off. 

“No. Everything will be normal again soon. Don't worry. We'd only make everyone panic needlessly if we told Chiron.”

Piper was staring at his tattoo, but didn't seem to look at it at the same time. 

Her eyes were glassy and suddenly very bright, she seemed to see something that wasn't truly there. 

Nico narrowed his eyes. 

What did Frank have to do with all of that? He was Hazelʼs boyfriend for Godʼs sake, he'd never let anything happen to her. And what was going on with Jason and Piper? Clearly there had to be something that was wrong. 

Nico groaned. 

Secrets, secrets, secrets. 

He had enough of them by now. 

A few hours later, the campers were eating dinner, but no one was really hungry. 

Leo on the Hephaestus table was eating his sandwich with fireproof gloves, something Nico had never seen him do before. 

So much strange had happened today that he wasn't really questioning it. 

Jason was still looking like he was constantly on edge and now on was nearing him since the air around him was still electrically charged. 

Percy and Annabeth were sitting at the campfire and quietly talking to each other, both of them looking nervous and tired, especially Annabeth who looked like she hadn't slept in weeks.

Piper was constantly looking at the other campers, craning her neck as if she was trying to look at all of them at the same time, and mumbling to herself. 

Everyoneʼs mind was pretty confused after what had happened earlier. 

Nico looked up as he heard footsteps and saw Reyna coming toward his resting place under a big birch tree. 

She was looking troubled and tired too, but not as much as the Seven, even though she worked twice as hard as all the others because she was also managing Camp Jupiter. 

Reyna sat down next to him, her gaze fixed on the stars. 

“I thought we'd be safe from trouble for at least a year after all the stuff with the giants and Gaea.”

Nico rested his chin on his knee. 

“We're demigods. That means we're never safe from trouble,” he sighed, stretching. 

“You're right, I guess.” She paused for a moment. 

“I wanted to go back to Camp Jupiter with Jason, Frank and Hazel tomorrow, but after what happened today..,” she trailed off, but Nico knew what she was trying to say. 

“I guess they'll manage without me for…quite a while.”

“I wonder where Frank is,” Nico whispered. 

“If he doesn't return tomorrow, Chiron wants to send a search party after him. He was with Hazel when the attack happened, and Chiron fears that the creature hurt him too.”

Reyna sighed heavily. 

“That's not a good sign, the attack. Something bad is coming, something big.”

Her eyes were still fixed on the stars and Nico noticed that seven of them were glowing brighter than the other ones. 

And they were bright red.


	4. Update

Sorry, but this is not a new chapter.

I just thought you deserved to know that I will not post any more chapters for a long time. 

My mental health is deteriorating and I'm super stressed with everything right now, it's just to much that is happening right now.

I tried sitting down to write multiple times this week, but I just couldn't. 

I need to work on myself first.

Maybe I'll post an oneshot if I'm feeling well, but Dead Hearts is on hiatus for now. 

Thanks to all readers and my wonderful beta reader SolinaTheDemiWitch, I hope that I'll be able to return some day. 

If I can't, I'll promise that I will send you a summary of the plot if you want to, so you'll know how the story ends.

Goodbye, I hope I'll see you again some day.


End file.
